New Zealand FMA proposes wider complaints and continuity conditions for licensees

New Zealand’s Financial Markets Authority proposes extending a standard complaints-handling condition to derivatives issuers and making documented, approved business-continuity plans explicit across a wider licensing framework. Its 8 October consultation would consolidate market-services conditions into a single document organised by licence type.[2]

The complaints condition currently applies to financial advice providers. The proposal extends it to seven additional service categories, including derivatives issuers and discretionary investment managers. The draft requires a documented process, fair and timely treatment, and records of complaints and action dates.[2][3]

For brokers, that would make the complaints workflow an explicit licence-condition issue: the firm would need to retain evidence of how an expression of dissatisfaction moved through its process, including why no action was taken where applicable.[3]

Conditions would cover ongoing operation

The draft continuity condition requires a plan approved by the governing body or another person with appropriate authority. Its explanatory material covers staff, records, systems, suppliers and premises, with review and testing at least annually. That puts approval and practical maintenance alongside the existence of a written recovery plan.[3]

The outsourcing condition would explicitly require a firm to be satisfied that its provider remains capable of meeting the required standard. The firm would retain responsibility for outsourced systems and processes. An initial supplier assessment would therefore be only one part of maintaining the arrangement.[3]

FMA proposes replacing separate compliance and governance conditions for some licence classes with an ongoing requirement to meet the statutory licensing criteria. Derivatives issuers’ financial-resource conditions would remain, with clarifications rather than the removal of solvency or risk-management obligations. The retail-suitability condition is outside this consultation’s proposed changes.[2]

The consultation closes on 11 December 2026. FMA proposes a six-month implementation period after giving notice of the final conditions, rather than from the consultation’s launch. Individual conditions attached to a particular firm’s licence remain a separate consideration from this review of standard conditions.[1]

For a derivatives business, the proposal links service quality, supplier oversight and continuity evidence more closely to the licence it must keep satisfying throughout operations. Its response can focus on whether the proposed wording fits its operating model and what implementation work the timetable would require.[1]

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